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When the floodwaters began to lap at his hip, Rahmell Ortiz's stubbornness finally buckled. He ran for his life, unsure of where he was going, or what had become of the other 6350 residents of Brooklyn's Red Hook Houses. Ortiz knew only that the Superstorm Sandy was showing no signs of mercy, and that his friend Horace Jackson, who had been banging at his door, wasn't taking no for an answer.

11 days, and a terrifying chest-high wade later, the two men stood in line for a free twice-daily meal dished out by volunteer-manned tables and trucks stationed outside the Calvary Baptist Church of Red Hook. It was by both men's accounts, the highlight of the day for local residents, many of whom still were living without power, heat or any idea when either might return, due to extensive saltwater damage in the basements of the 33 buildings that make up Brooklyn's largest public housing development.
Like many who stood patiently in line for soup, dumplings and cheese-stuffed pupusas, Ortiz's and Jackson's frustration and gratitude were on display in equal measure. "We need help," said Ortiz. "Elevators aren't working and we don't know who the city got out because people can't pick up their phones."

"It's a shame," agreed Jackson. "No heat, light's been off for 11 days, and you can't feel funny about coming down for free food when your power is out."

The food in question is donated and distributed by an unofficial and ever-changing network of restaurants, off-shift or displaced hospitality workers, members of the Occupy Sandy movement (an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street effort now focused on Sandy relief), freelancers, volunteers at the close-by Red Hook Initiative and concerned New Yorkers looking to help out wherever they can.

"It's all come together through social media and bicycles, and it's run by freelancers," laughed Craig Judelman, 27, a full-time fiddle player and Occupy stalwart who had been riding his own bike over to Red Hook from Crown Heights each day. Along with personal chef Hagar Aviram, 29, who had also biked around looking for somewhere to help, the two had been working with the Red Hook Initiative and Occupy Sandy to organize daily meal efforts from within Calvary Church, which had itself been badly flooded. When the waters receded, the help streamed in.

"The supplies are coming from the goodness of people's hearts," said Aviram, "and I need as much support here as I can get."

Like many of the volunteers (identified by makeshift nametags scrawled on scraps of tape) and residents Eatocracy spoke with, she didn't see it coming from official channels. Judelman agreed, "This is grassroots, and Occupy had the structure in place to organize quickly."

For now, the food and supplies show up, and both volunteers and residents are grateful for what they can get. "They're happy while they're here," said Judelman. "Then they have to go home and sit in the dark."

One day, several crates of Greek yogurt were left at the church, and some volunteers worried about lack of refrigeration. Judelman assured them it wouldn't be a problem. "Want to quickly get rid of some yogurt before it goes bad? You know who will happily take it? People who don't have anything else to eat."

"Some people were worried that other people were hoarding, that they were taking too much," he recounted. "These people are dumped on by society year-round. People need to eat. It's okay if they take too much."

But that doesn't mean they are necessarily thrilled about eating just anything on offer. "No more trays of baked ziti, please," pleaded Judelman, and hot soup was a surprisingly difficult sell on a chilly Friday afternoon. Marco Canora and Paul Grieco of Hearth restaurant and Terroir wine bars had set up a table outside Calvary Church and along with the restaurants' staffers, watched as people lined up for hearty, filling offerings from Solber Pupusas and Rickshaw Dumplings trucks, while they wheedled for customers to come over and sample their wares.

"I don't like vegetables, I don't like beans and I don't like broth," said one woman. "Bring some chicken noodle next time, and I'll be all over that."

"This is three-star soup!" retorted J Rosser Lomax, 27, who had been volunteering around Brooklyn with the U.S. Bartenders Guild. "You really should give it a try."

Patrons who eventually tried the soup - a nutrient-dense, soul-satisfying black cabbage and white bean ribollita that fetches $13 a bowl at Canora's East Village restaurant - came back for seconds. And thirds. And fourths. Canora took the initial marketing issue in stride, and mulled over offerings for the next outing.

Canora and Grieco, along with chefs George Mendes, Andrew Carmellini and Seamus Mullen, despite having lost business and thousands of dollars worth of stored food when their restaurants lost power, held a $300-a-plate dinner two days beforehand to raise funds for their new initiative NYC Food Flood. With the money, and additional ingredients donated by vendors, the chefs plan to set up similar meal stations at other areas in need of relief. Canora said he believed this model works on a couple of levels - both allowing the group to be fleet of foot and free of the red tape of larger organizations and also freeing the chefs to do what they do best: feeding people.

Lomax, who had been going door-to-door feeding homebound residents in Brooklyn public housing projects and making sure their diabetic supplies stayed properly chilled, found it only natural that the hospitality industry stepped up to help.

"We're people people. This is what we do, and we do it with a smile on our face," he said. "And feeding people truly changes things."

Lomax and his fellow members of the U.S. Bartenders Guild communicate via text messages and follow the #occupysandy hashtag on Twitter and coordinate with the Red Hook Initiative to find out what supplies and resources are needed where. "I tell my friends 'Sleep tonight, volunteer tomorrow and brunch when you're dead,'" Lomax quipped. "And donations of coffee would be super welcome."

And while Occupy Sandy and the Red Hook Initiative can mobilize a volunteer army in 140 characters, hospitality pros can help with the logistics of plating hundreds of hot meals at a time. Though power has been restored to nearly half of the Red Hook Houses, and the New York City Housing Authority promises heat within the next few days, Judelman remained dubious. He mused over the logistics of serving a seated Thanksgiving dinner to several thousand people and marveled over the Home Depot-purchased turkey fryer the Food Flood team was using to keep the soup piping hot in the crisp November air. He also spoke of Occupy’s desire to establish a more permanent kitchen in the area once the immediate need was past. The teams exchanged information and made plans to join forces for their future efforts.

And as for that soup: Erma Ribera, a Red Hook Houses resident who had just had her power and water restored, shyly accepted a cup of the ribollita from a Food Flood Volunteer as she waited in line for pupusas. A smile broke out across her face. She kissed her fingers and blew it toward the team, "This is beautiful soup. God bless you. God bless you."

And with that, warm soup was suddenly the hottest commodity in cold, dark Red Hook.

What's needed:

According to Judelman and Aviram, the greatest needs in their kitchen are for hot, prepared vegetables and protein, lidded take-out containers, food for kitchen staff and hot coffee. Donations can be dropped off at Calvary Baptist Church of Red Hook at 773 Hicks Street in Brooklyn by 11 a.m. for lunch or 4 p.m. for dinner.

Occupy Sandy needs for additional disaster zones outside of Red Hook are updated regularly at InterOccupy.net and the group has also established an Occupy Sandy's Wedding Registry at Amazon for people outside the immediate area to offer assistance.

NYC Food Flood can be found on Twitter or by e-mailing nycfoodflood@gmail.com.

The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City is accepting Sandy-specific donations through the city's website.

Outside NYC and want to help? CNN's Impact Your World has a great list of resources that could use your time and money. Thinking about coming to New York to eat? Follow the Twitter hashtag #dineoutNYC to see the latest charity efforts and open restaurants and don't forget to #EatDownTipUp.

soundoff(19 Responses)

larry

i have chainsaws for trees or if u just need to cut your way in to your house and gen's for power for your house or to use tools im in md few hours away but i will come help im not lookin for money just want to help 443 271 9002

November 13, 2012 at 6:14 pm |

hellowhat

Hey Larry, just come on out, don't post on cnn, google occupy sandy and you can get in touch with someone. They need people with construction skills, less trees – parks dept seems to be taking care of that. It's rebuilding the houses that's the problem. There's tons of people like you, from out of state, that have come in to help, lots of people from churches and grassroots organizations.

November 14, 2012 at 6:44 pm |

SteveDave

Was interested until I saw the Occupy morons were involved.

November 13, 2012 at 4:33 pm |

Maybe

You would prefer a different kind of moron?

November 13, 2012 at 4:59 pm |

hellowhat

Hey SteveDave, where are you? You out there shoveling sludge out of the street and bringing hot meals to grandma? I don't think so. YOU are the moron. The young people in Occupy are busting their butts to help thousands in desperate living conditions. They are heroes.

November 14, 2012 at 6:34 pm |

Heidi

I would think if you were cold and starving, you would eat anything. That woman who said she 'didn't like' this or that should have some talking to ..are you serious? Must have been some high society gal not used to going without. :/

November 13, 2012 at 2:04 pm |

the truth

they're new yorkers, they complain about everything

November 19, 2012 at 3:45 pm |

PeterD

I want to know from Media where is Obama and his Cronies Help for Sandy victims?

November 13, 2012 at 11:55 am |

hellowhat

Doing the best they can do, making sure people aren't sitting into their rotting collapsed houses, starving and freezing to death. They are bureaucrats, yes, but you don't see anyone dying in shelters like Katrina, under Bush. They need more funds, and they need more boots on the ground. Want to volunteer? No, you'd rather sit there and bitch, eating your cheetos and cheering on Bill O'Reilly, casting your vote for republican dumba's who'd like to cut out emergency funding altogether.

November 14, 2012 at 6:40 pm |

Frederickk1337

Feel no sorrow for the communist enemy!

November 13, 2012 at 10:09 am |

Truth™@Frederick

Meth is bad for you. Put the pipe down.

November 13, 2012 at 11:18 am |

Frederickk1337

Why the hell would you feel sorry for these people? They starved thousands of people. Froze to death masses of poor people. There is no sorrow for the communist enemy. They then disarmed the people so they couldnt even fight for their right to survive. Let them suffer and die as they did to so many others through their communist torture tactics.

Which particular Communists are you talking about? These are poor people in a housing project in Brooklyn. I'm fairly certain they're the only people freezing here, and it's pretty brutal what they're going through.